Friday, July 16, 2010

The world and I do not see eye to eye

And a good Friday morning to you, my bloggite lovelies. You've made it to the day at work that may as well not be a real workday! Hooray for lost productivity due to the insistence that we work 5 days a week! A little housekeeping, as per usual: I'll be back in a few hours with my long-gestating Inception review. I promise I've been thinking about it way too much and I will go way too crazy with my praise of it, so look forward to that.

Now, before we go any further, let's talk a little about two sets of images that hit the interweb universe in the last few days. This year had relatively few comic book movies, given that they normally saturate the market like a bedwetter soils his sheets. Instead, we only got Iron Man 2, which was a lot of fun but fairly inconsequential. Next year, the gloves are hella off, with Thor and Green Lantern arriving. Each represents something weird for their respective companies. For Marvel, Thor is the furthest from anything they've put on screen thus far, considering it's a mullet-wearing God who speaks in "thees" and "thous" and dresses like a cross between Gladiator and Gone with the Wind. For WB/DC, Green Lantern is their first sci-fi tinged character and the least known character they've debuted. As Eminem wisely put it, "my fillets are smoking weed/get back, cuz the steaks are high."

This week, we finally get to play fashion reporters, tearing into what Asgardians and defenders of the galaxy wear. Division occurred instantly, as the internets erupted with fury against the Thor photos, blasting them as (and these are real criticisms) "plastic," "gaudy," "reminiscent of Masters of the Universe," and "f**king awful." Were I willing to include homosexual slurs as adjectives, I would have far more to include, but I don't condone such hatred on account of not being an asshole. On the flip side, when "Entertainment Weekly" debuted the Green Lantern costume, which is entirely CGI rendered over Ryan Reynold's supple naked body, the general consensus was a reserved thumbs up. I totally, violently disagree. Let's look.
What you have in these photos appears to be...well...Thor. I don't get the same plastic vibe that others were getting, as the material looks fairly metallic to me, or at least metallic enough to pass on screen. Does Anthony Hopkins look like he's ready to overact the cape right off his back? Youbetcha. That's how we like that hammy, hamtastic ham bone. I don't know what people who even have a passing appreciation for Thor and his world were expecting. If they went all realistic, they wouldn't seem very God-like, right? It looks kind of cool to me. In the same way that others are giving a passing if unenthusiastic grade for the Green Lantern costume, I'm giving these the green light. Now, on to the other stuff.
This is the single most disappointing costume reveal I have ever seen. What the Sam Hell is this? Did a 15-year-old get a hold of some Photoshop? Oh wait, the PHOTOSHOPPED ONES LOOK BETTER. See?
Yeah, you thought I was kidding but some kid in his basement stopped touching himself while playing World of Final Fantasy or whatever long enough to digitally render the image immediately above using his mom's laptop while a major studio releases their expensive CGI costume on the front cover of a major magazine with all the detail and glitz of an etch-a-sketch drawing. Are you kidding me? Did you see the image above with the floating ring? What the flaming donkey crap is that? The Great Gazoo on "The Flintstones" was more realistic looking. These pics look AWFUL. And I didn't even include the ones of the villain and his throbbing, bulbous head. Like every single character in Star Wars and Hurley on "Lost," I've got a bad feeling about this. I don't know how the entire geek world and I got off track, but I'm scoring it Thor - 1, Green Lantern - 0.

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3 Comments:

Blogger The Tyma Report said...

I am really disappointed that Hopkins is playing "Odin." There are so many actors who come from, wait, Scandinavia, who are experts in period pieces from that area (see "13th Warrior"), that could have much more easily filled the bill. Maybe Hopkins needs to play make-believe in the backyard with the kids some more (see "Wolfman").

Oh, the costumes look fine. I am going to give GL some slack since they have some more time to get the shines and the "ooohs" rendered more, how do I say this, "pretty?"

July 16, 2010  
Blogger Tracie Mauk said...

It it okay to be reasonably pleased with both sets of costumes and still be a huge comic nerd? Can I move on without frothing with hatred?

The real trick to both of these is going to be seeing them in action. The promotional photos for these things ALWAYS look off.

July 16, 2010  
Blogger Ryan said...

As much as I agree with you on the other actors available...I get sick pleasure out of seeing Hopkins overact. I can't explain it. I can see him acting totally insane as the Norse God of Gods and I kind of love it. I agree that they have time to fix the GL costumes but I do not agree that they look fine right now. The one with the ring is just atrocious, and it's not hard to make a photo look good in print. I mean, this is their best foot forward? I'm shocked, I really am.

Tracie, yes it is okay to be reasonably pleased and be a huge nerd, frothing hatred is just, you know, how we are used to responding to things. I agree that the action will tell the tale, but I cannot escape the overwhelming feeling like the GL project is sliding down the wrong path. Something is just sending my spidey senses on high alert.

July 16, 2010  

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